In June 2008, Green Tavush NGO once again launched its highly successful Green Camps program, implementing seven environmental activism summer camps in seven communities around Armenia. The 2008 Green Camps Program received generous support from the US Embassy Democracy Grants program, and from the Center for Agribusiness and Rural Development. The NGO, working closely with US Peace Corps volunteers, community members, and local organizations, implemented camps in Tavush, Gegharkunik, Lori, Ararat, and Syunik Marzes. Sites were as follows: village Lusadzor, village Aygut, village Lejan, the town of Martuni, village Urtsadzor, the city of Sevan, and village Vaghatin. Each camp established a community-based foundation for community action and environmental education in these disadvantaged communities around Armenia, while providing youth with a fantastic opportunity for learning, participation and fun. Green Camps 2008 empowered 56 community volunteers through training and applied learning, thereby increasing the civic responsibility and conservation awareness of 325 youth aged 11-13. Green Tavush encouraged all camp organizers to reach out to surrounding communities, with the result that the camps’ local organizers increased inter-community ties by drawing volunteer counselors and campers from a total of 22 different rural communities.       

Since the camps, Green Tavush NGO has been pleased and proud to receive letters of appreciation and reports of continued conservation activities in the 2008 Green Camp communities. Village Lusadzor’s youth eco-club grew from ten to over twenty-five members, and implemented two conservation projects: creation of an environmental resource center in the school, funded by Eurasia Foundation through Green Tavush NGO; and a successful youth-organized community clean-up. In village Lejan, former campers and counselors taught Green Camps lessons to five new youth groups in the school for three months following their camp.    The environmental sector of the Lejan youth group grew following the Green Camp and won two small grants: a mobile dumpster to address the litter problem in the village; and a youth-led eco-advocacy office in the mayor’s building. Campers in village Urtsadzor, after their camp, took it upon themselves to organize and clean the streets of the village every week. They also hung cardboard signs reading “Protect Nature” from telephone lines and poles all over the village. In village Aygut, eco-club attendance and litter awareness grew among students, and the village’s Green Camp counselors and campers taught Green Camp games to new students, and implemented environmental film showings in the school. In Martuni, former campers organized community clean-ups at the school and lakeside, and launched an environmental public awareness campaign in the school, adding new posters each week to raise awareness of environmental issues.